1. Language Differences
2. Differences in Values and Etiquette
3. Tone of voice
4. "Clustering" (hanging out with others from similar backgrounds)
Post an example of how a difference in one of these areas has caused a misunderstanding due to diversity. Offer some suggestions on how you think communication between people from diverse backgrounds can relate better to each other.
In my opinion, the one that causes the greatest strife in the workplace is the differences in value and etiquette. People who do own prejudices don't tend to flaunt them at work for fear of termination, but airing one's thoughts on the values or manners someone else holds isn't as hard.
ReplyDeleteI work with a girl who isn't too much younger than myself, but we are worlds apart in manners. She is nosy, constantly prying at things that have nothing to do with her. She is also manipulative, and, worst of all, flirtatious to a nauseating degree. All of this finally came to a head when I got to work one morning and realized my email program was open (something I NEVER leave open). She was the one who took over helping customers after I left the day before. I confronted her about invading my privacy. I had months worth of emails pertaining to the wedding (financial info. and all) that my fiancee and I are planning. She made no attempt to deny it and instead tried flirting with this: "I wish I had a hard working man with that much money saved up for a wedding." WTF? Seriously? If not for my job, and the social taboo surrounding men hitting women, I probably would have punched her in her mouth (that's a joke girls, I'm not a woman hitter!).
Wow, Kris... I don't blame you for being upset with her. She had absolutely no right to go through your things. I can agree with you about values and etiquette being very important. I can say that my mother raised me to have manners, morals, and values. It is extremely frustrating and difficult to come across someone who seems to be lacking them, especially when you have to work with them and see them on a daily basis. This is also a tough problem to fix because when you try to address the issue with the person, they typically blow you off because they don't understand, and therefore probably don't care to change.
ReplyDeleteAn example of diversity that I know of is how different cultures greet each other. In Spanish cultures it's very affectionate. We hug and give a kiss on the cheek. Family is very important in the Spanish culture. However, in other cultures, it's sometimes rude and usually awkward to hug someone you just met.
ReplyDeleteI've experienced both sides of this. My family has mixed cultures. When I visit my mom's side of the family we're all hugging, talking, and really showing how much we've missed our family and care about them. We make tons of food, play games, and laugh ourselves out. On the other hand, when I visit my step-dad's family, it's kinda formal. We give a loose hug and are just like "Hi. It's nice to see you. How have you been?" ...Very different.
I think the best thing people can do to overcome diverse backgrounds is to learn about other cultures. We know what's normal for us and get so offended when people from different backgrounds go against what we've been taught. When in reality, that's normal for their background. They honestly don't see it as being rude or disrespectful. If we learn what's "normal" in different cultures then we'll be more understanding and accepting of things others do.
This post is from Alice:
ReplyDeleteI had an Asian manager last year. She really appreciated her job and always tried to do it well, like the rest of us so I respected her. We all ate at our desks and sometimes you wouldn’t know someone was on their lunch/ break. It is a busy tele-medical office and we all cross- talked to help our patients over the phone. She was the only manager that would not help you when she was on break/lunch. When you asked her a question she came off as rude, she’d say, “don’t bother me now”. She was curt and dismissive. There was a difference there; she was not a “southern woman”. She was direct, honest and stuck to the rules. When she was on the clock, she was one of the best, just don’t bother her when she is off the clock.
I worked AT&T in the International office here in San Antonio many years ago. We had all been trained in Diversity. The people that handled the Spanish speaking only calls worked on an entirely different floor. The rest of us were all mixed in together. The English speaking employees would talk down about the Spanish. Why do they dress up? want to be promoted?, girls all wear too much makeup, guys are always in suits, girls look like they are headed to a club later. Etc. So much for Diversity training, they forgot to train us on the styles and etiquette of the Spanish speaking peoples. We all shared one large lunch/cafeteria room. The English speakers thought the Spanish speakers did not want to associate with them because they would all sit together, to the point of moving tables so they would all have lunch together. Not many of the E.speakers would go over to say hi, they avoided walking by them, the few that did go over to them were welcomed , like special guests, the S.speakers invited them to sit down and offered them whatever food they had. The rest of the E.speakers really didn’t understand the culture and food and sense of family aspect.
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ReplyDeleteMy mom used to be a estimator for a moving company. One time she went to an Indian mans house. She, respecting his values, took her shoes off at the door. As she was walking around she felt something on the bottom of her panty-hosed foot. When she lifted it up, she found a sewing needle. The Indian man became upset because in Asia it is considered very disrespectful to show the bottom of your foot to anyone. He asked her to leave and would not accept her bid. This is a misunderstanding due to a difference in cultural values. I believe that the more people you know and the more places you visit, you become a better communicator. You must be open minded and mindful.
ReplyDeleteI honestly have no clue how to answer this. Most of the places I have worked at had a lot of people with similar interests, except for me. They were either Hispanic, Black, or White but they all acted similarly. They were all into rap and hip-hop, all liked going to parties/clubs, liked to drink or smoke, and mostly were mild tempered guys and girls. I guess i just couldn't see the diversity there.
ReplyDeleteI used to work at a printing shop where I printed a bunch of junk mail you guys probably receive in the mail. I would print these ads and other people would fold, stuff envelopes, punch holes, etc. So to be done with the jobs quickly people would work together and you would have to communicate and understand what each person is doing. One time a temporary worker misunderstood one of the instructions for the job and set us back a while. His first language was not English so I guess something confused him with the way I explained his job.
ReplyDeleteDealing with language barriers is a difficult thing to do. One must be patient and be able to explain things a bit more than normal. Its one of the toughest things to deal with at a job when u need to communicate in order to be more productive.
My scenario involves differences in value and etiquette. I work in an afterschool program for an elementary with a staff of four college age students. We are a fairly young staff and share many commonalities generationally but we differ in our upbringings which creates conflict when trying to manage almost 90 children. often, my staff suffers because they discipline bad behavior as they see fit which is almost always different from how another staff member would handle the situation.I've had several talks with them about handling bullying problems on site. Some staff feel the children must be reprimanded immediately and parents contacted. Others feel the children should value each other and take pride in settling conflict, and handling responsibility by themselves. The difference in values is very apparent. We've set rules access the board for all bullying issues because the truth is, the case by case process became too personal. Therefore all bullying issues are now directed to the school counselor. That was our solution! It's proved successful thus far.
ReplyDeleteI just started work at a mexican restaurant, it seems im the only one who doesnt speak spanish. out of the four managers, the one i have the most time with has the strangest accent, so i can barely understand what he is saying, and im sure he cannot really understand me either. a few days ago i got fired and without a doubt it's mostly due to our trouble communicating. im still not completely positive why they fired me. i really loved hearing and learning spanish all day; our differences were not so great as to make working with them at all unpleasant.
ReplyDelete'Hot Tom-ale' Shipman